Page 71 of The Knight
He spun her to face him. Her dress caught the light, transforming her into something ethereal and vulnerable.
Mine to protect.
“What you’re suggesting is too dangerous.” Despite his best efforts, his voice roughened with emotion. “These people aren’t playing for fun. They’re playing for keeps.” His throat constricted as images of worst-case scenarios flashed through his mind—scenarios he’d seen play out too many times before. “You could get hurt. Or worse.”
“Abe.” Her voice softened, but that diamond core remained. This was what he loved about her, but also what made her so damn hard to protect. “I didn’t come this far to turn and walk away.”
“This wasn’t the agreed plan.” He focused on the familiar territory of tactical planning. “The plan was to go in, identify the most likely location of the laptop. Extract the laptop. In and out.”
The determination in her eyes didn’t waver. If anything, it burned brighter. “Eventually, they’re going to find me. I can’t hide for the rest of my life.”
She was right, and he hated it.
“We’ll find it before?—”
“When, Abe? When?” It had started to drizzle, fine droplets catching on her lashes and dotting the delicate hairs on her cheeks. Crystals of water glistened in her hair, transforming her into something otherworldly. It was hard to breathe—he’d never seen anything more beautiful.
Or more goddamn stubborn.
“They’re going to find me. I’d rather it be on my terms.” Her voice carried an edge of mental toughness. “They need me to open the laptop. They’ll take me to it. We don’t need to locate it—I’ll find it for us.”
Abe folded his arms across his chest, trying to contain the churning in his gut. The elation he’d felt watching her descend the stairs earlier had evaporated, leaving behind a queasy emptiness he recognized from his past. His brothers falling as they walked right into the ambush Mariam had put into play with her lies.
But Freya had decided—now it was damage control.
“What are you thinking?” The words were ash in his mouth.
“I’ll approach Korolov, tell him the facial recognition is only part of the unlock sequence. That there’s a timed component.”
“Why would he believe that?”
“People believe what they want to see, Abe.” Her eyes locked with his. “We just need to show him what he expects to find.” Fierce intelligence flared in her gaze. “And here, in public, we control the situation—better than being ambushed on his terms.”
“Abe. She has a point?—”
“Shut the fuck up, Zak.”
“Zak is right. It could buy us time to implement the kill switch.” Leo’s voice was maddeningly reasonable.
“Exactly.” Freya seized on the support, her shoulders squaring. “And if I’m the one to make contact, I’ll be able to control the situation better than if his men corner me. This way we’re calling the shots. Not him.”
Abe shook his head as memories of the Afghan ambush shuttered through his mind in a brutal slideshow. “I like nothing about this. Korolov isn’t some local player—he’s a tier-one arms dealer with kill teams operating across three continents. Once you’re in his kill zone, if he makes you as a threat?—”
“He won’t find out.” The determination glittering in her eyes matched the day they’d first met, when she’d dismissed him as just another grunt who’d get in her way.A lifetime ago.
“I’m already in his sights, Abe.” Her voice softened, but her resolve remained. “This way, we stay ahead. It’s our best opportunity. If he sells the archive, his men will still search for me.” She stepped closer, the scent of her perfume mixing with the rain-fresh air. “This is our chance to stop it now, to cut off the head of the dragon before it can strike again.”
Her words hit hard.
Dragons didn’t die easily, and they had a habit of burning everything in their path before they fell.
38
Every steptoward the facial scanner at the ornate ballroom doors tested Freya’s composure. The device blinked to life as she approached, its soft hum cutting through the frantic chatter in her mind.
The machine beeped, loud and sharp. A trap springing shut. Her stomach twisted when she saw the flicker of recognition in the eyes of Korolov’s security team, a brief exchange of glances she wasn’t meant to witness.
They know who I am.